Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Spring Is Coming On Apace

At least it is here, but YMMV. It was so nice out yesterday afternoon! Made up for the day before for sure. I did a bunch of errands including taking T-Man’s Blundstone chisel-toe boots in to get resoled. I just about had a heart attack — it’s going to cost nearly $100 because they need complete new soles and heels including an underlay which has to be stitched on. Otherwise the sole just falls off because it won’t stay glued. Tito, my shoe repair guy, does a good job and it’s still cheaper by almost half than buying a new pair. Should give them another 2 or 3 years of wear unless the uppers start to fall apart. Reduce and reuse, right?

Unfortunately T thinks that his boots shouldn’t have worn the soles out the way they did because though he’s had them for nearly a decade, he didn’t wear them all that much compared to his walking shoes. There were whole flaps of rubber loose in the centre which is odd. I can guarantee they will be much better now. But for the price of the darn things you’d think they would have lasted longer. My earliest and most comfortable pair of regular Blunnies are now gardening boots because both soles and uppers are too cracked to be repaired. My second pair of wedge soles (which they are discontinuing) are holding up well. And my brown chunk soles are too new (only a year and a half) to tell. They took some time to break in because the tighter ankles gave me bruises at first but now they’re fine. The other 2 styles were instantly comfortable and when I finally need to buy a new pair (not for years yet!) I’ll probably get the originals again. Stylish aren’t I? I wish they had a pedometer built in because I never walk anywhere without one or the other pair of Blunnies on. I’d love to know how far that was.

I also bought a bunch of fruits and veggies at my favourite produce market for the huge family Easter dinner I’m planning for Sunday. There’s 8 or 10 more people coming than we’ve ever had before. It snowballed because we just have too much family (is that really possible?) but there is no turning anyone away. Even if we do only have one bathroom. Nearly 30 people if everyone can make it! Yipes! It’ll be fun! I always said I didn’t mind cooking for a crowd — as long as I don’t have to buy anyone a present. I’m not good with that. I had a few little things for the grandkids but now that my young nephews from Mexico are coming, I need to come up with something for them too. Nothing big just Easter-ish. Hmmm…I see a trip to the local loonie-toonie store in my future. I always try to keep the candy down to a dull roar for kids.

Later I got about 6 centimeters knitted on the Hepburn Cardi fronts while sitting in the sun on my deck. Nearly got sunburned! Today we’re back to clouds and showers. Typical weather for this time of year. You never know what to wear from minute to minute: a raincoat or short sleeves or a fleece jacket with gloves and a hat. It will be spring equinox tonight at 10.49 PDT. Even though it looks pretty nice out there — when you can see between the raindrops.

Today I started the Sea ‘n’ Sky Socks for my 17-year-old niece. I’m a bit late for her January birthday but she doesn’t mind. She’s very appreciative of the one pair she already has so she gets a second pair. The Synesthesia Socks pattern is working out fine so far. I need to have a bit more sock and some light for a photograph however. Right now it’s dumping rain and rather dark out. I try never to use flash for my photos because it just shifts and washes out the colour and flattens everything out. Real daylight is much better but it helps if there is some. Sheesh.

I’m leaving the Red Fields Shawl alone at the moment. Just as well. We’ll see how long that lasts. Back to writing shopping lists and looking sadly at my pet dust bunnies under the furniture. How much should I clean when it’s only going to get completely messed up again with a house full of company?

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